For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2004-282884 discloses a method of detecting phase current from a DC power line, which is a conventionally well-known method.
The conventional structure will be described hereinafter with reference to a circuit diagram shown in FIG. 37. According to a revolution speed instruction signal (not shown) and the like, control circuit 107 of inverter device 120 controls switching elements 102 for converting DC current fed from battery 101 into AC current. The AC current is fed to stator winding 104 of a motor, by which magnet rotor 105 is driven. Diodes 103 form a circulating route of current flowing to stator winding 104. Current sensor 106 detects the current value and sends it to control circuit 107. Control circuit 107 uses the value for calculation of power consumption, judgment for protecting switching elements 102 and positional detection of magnet rotor 105.
Next will be described how current sensor 106 detects phase current on a sign-wave driving. FIG. 38 and FIG. 39 show waveforms (i.e., U-phase terminal voltage 141, V-phase terminal voltage 142, W-phase terminal voltage 143 and neutral-point voltage 129) in three-phase modulation; FIG. 38 shows each waveform in three-phase modulation with a maximum modulation degree of 50%, and FIG. 39 shows the waveforms in the modulation with a maximum modulation degree of 10%. FIG. 40 is a timing chart in one carrier (a carrier cycle), showing an on/off state of upper-arm switching elements U, V, W and lower-arm switching elements X, Y, Z. The timing chart corresponds to the phase of about 120° in three-phase modulation with a maximum modulation degree of 50% shown in FIG. 38. There are four switching patterns (a), (b), (c) and (d). Throughout the patterns, when the upper-arm switching element of a phase is on, the lower-arm switching element of the phase is off, and vice versa. For sake of clarity, FIG. 40 does not show a dead time for preventing short-circuit between the upper-arm switching elements and the lower-arm switching element.
The on/off state of upper-arm switching elements U, V, W tells that which phase of current is detected by current sensor 106. That is, when only one phase is turned on, the current corresponding to the phase flows; when two phases are turned on, the current corresponding to the remaining phase flows; and when all three phases are turned on or off, no current flows. The on/off state of upper-arm switching elements U, V, W tells which phase-current is detectable by current sensor 106. The current detection in this case is successfully carried out on condition that the ON period of an upper-arm switching element is kept longer than a period enough for current detection by current sensor 106.
FIG. 41 shows the ON period (ON duty) of upper-arm switching elements U, V, W in one carrier (a carrier cycle) at phases of 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90° in FIG. 38 (i.e., in the three-phase modulation with a maximum modulation degree of 50%). The ON period of the upper-arm switching elements is evenly shown on the left and right sides from the middle of a carrier cycle. In the figure, a thin solid line represents the ON period of the U-phase; a medium solid line represents the V-phase; and a thick solid line represents the W-phase. In addition, under the ON period, the flowing phase current in the period is indicated by an arrowed solid line with capital letters U and V. Similarly, FIG. 42 shows the ON period of the upper-arm switching elements at each phase in the three-phase modulation with a maximum modulation degree of 10%.
In carrier cycles at phases of 30° and 90° in FIGS. 41 and 42, due to coincidence of the ON periods of two phases of three, current sensor 106 cannot keep time enough for detection. As a result, current sensor 106 detects one phase current only. Similarly, in carrier cycles at phases of 45°, 60° and 75° in FIG. 42, current sensor 106 detects no phase due to lack of time for detection. To detect the position of magnet rotor 105, current sensor 106 has to detect current of at least two phases.
An example below addresses the lack of detecting time. In the PWM system, the ON period can be corrected in a manner that an identical value is added to each phase or subtracted from each phase with no influence on phase voltage. Considering the fact above, the following will be a remedy.
FIG. 43A shows a carrier cycle at a phase of 75° with a maximum modulation degree of 10%. Suppose that, of three-phase ON periods, the maximum ON-period is represented by A; the intermediate ON-period is represented by B; and the minimum ON-period is represented by C. In the figure, α represents half the difference between maximum ON-period A and intermediate ON-period B: α=(A−B)/2; β represents half the difference between intermediate ON-period B and minimum ON-period C: β=(B−C)/2; and δ represents the minimum time enough for current detection of current sensor 106 (where, α+β<δ). In FIG. 43B, the ON period is corrected in a manner that 2δ is added to the maximum ON-period (U-phase) in the end of the period and also added to the intermediate ON-period (W-phase) in the beginning of the period. Furthermore, in FIG. 43C, 2δ is added to the minimum ON-period (V-phase) in a manner that 2δ is evenly shared between the beginning and the end of the period. Through the correction above, in the end of the ON period of the U-phase, the time for detecting current equals δ+α+β (i.e., greater than δ); similarly, in the beginning of the ON period of the W-phase, the time for detecting current equals δ+β (i.e., also greater than δ). This allows current sensor 6 to detect current of the U-phase and the W-phase.
There is no difference in phase current in a carrier cycle between the before-correction and the after-correction; however, in a carrier cycle after correction, a ripple appears in phase current. Here will be detailed the ripple current. FIG. 44 shows U-phase current iU, V-phase current iV and W-phase current iW, which have no correction described in FIG. 43A; on the other hand, FIG. 45 shows each phase current as a result of correction described in FIG. 43C. For sake of clarity, suppose that stator winding 104 of the motor carries inductance L only and resistance R of zero. Besides, for the purpose of obtaining change (ripple) in the phase current in a carrier cycle, the description will be given without consideration of induced voltage that has little change in a carrier cycle.
In FIG. 44, the ON-period having pattern (a) (see FIG. 40), which corresponds to the state shown in FIG. 46A, each phase current has no change. In the period having pattern (b) corresponding to the state shown in FIG. 47A (where, an arrowed solid line shows an increase; an arrowed broken line shows a decrease), U-phase current iU increases, whereas V-phase current and W-phase current decrease; current iU changes twice as much as current iV and iW. In the period, each phase current exhibits a linear change, which follows the equation: E=Ldi/dt (where, L represents inductance of the stator winding; E represents DC voltage; i represents current), and di/dt, which represents the rate of change with time of current i takes a constant in the equation. In the period having pattern (c), which corresponds to the state shown in FIG. 48A, V-phase current iV decreases, whereas U-phase current iU and W-phase current iW increase; current iV changes twice as much as current iU and iW. In the period having pattern (d) corresponding to the state shown in FIG. 46B, each phase current has no change.
In a correction-given carrier cycle shown in FIG. 45, the cycle changes its state in the following order: FIG. 46A, FIG. 47B, FIG. 48B, FIG. 46B, FIG. 48C, FIG. 47A and then FIG. 46A.
In the carrier cycle without correction (FIG. 44), each phase current gradually changes. On the other hand, in the carrier cycle with correction (FIG. 45), U-phase current iU has a temporary decrease before increasing and W-phase current iW has a temporary increase before decreasing. That is, ripple current occurs in the carrier cycle of FIG. 45. In the end of the cycle, U-phase current iU, V-phase current iV and W-phase current iW have a value the same as each phase current in a carrier cycle without correction. That is, increase/decrease in the phase current throughout a carrier cycle with correction has no difference from that in a carrier cycle without correction, and accordingly, there is no influence on the PWM system.
In other correction methods, the aforementioned ripple current repeatedly occurs on a carrier-cycle basis. The ripple current as an electromagnetic force affects the stator winding of the motor, mechanical components and the housing, inviting undesirable noise and vibration. To address the inconveniency, some suggestions have been made. For example, according to the methods disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2003-284374 (see FIG. 1 in page 7) and in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2000-333465 (see FIG. 1 in page 8), there is no need for correction on the ON-period for phase-current detection, and no noise and vibration caused by the ripple current. As compared to the methods above, employing a single current-sensor decreases a parts count; and accordingly, contributes to a compact and lightweight structure with high reliability in vibration-proof or the like. The structure detects maximum current passing through the upper-arm and lower-arm switching elements, protecting the switching elements and the diodes connected in parallel from damage. Besides, the current detected by current sensor 106 is DC current fed from battery 101, by which electric power fed from battery 101 can be easily obtained.